Abstract
To survive, all animals must find, inspect, and ingest food. Behavioral coordination and control of feeding is therefore a challenge that animals must face. Here, we focus on how the gustatory system guides the precise execution of behavioral sequences that promote ingestion and suppresses competing behaviors. We summarize principles learnt from Drosophila, where underlying sensory neuronal mechanisms are illustrated in great detail. Moreover, we compare these principles with findings in other animals, where such coordination plays prominent roles. These examples suggest that the use of gustatory information for feeding coordination has an ancient origin and is prevalent throughout the animal kingdom.
Footnotes
The authors declare no competing financial interests.
This work was supported by the Deutsche Forschungsgemeinschaft Grant TA 552/5-1 (to H.T.); Ministry of Education, Culture, Sports, Science and Technology-Japan (MEXT)/Japanese Society for the Promotion of Science (JSPS)/JSPS KAKENHI Grants 26250001, 26120705, 17H01378, 17H05545, 16H01496, and 15K14307 (to H.T.); the Naito Foundation (H.T.); and the Uehara Memorial Foundation (H.T.). V.T. is a JSPS International Research Fellow.
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